Feel the burn this Ramadan.

"Are you prepared to get sweaty?" Actually no, I was not prepared at all. Being the newbie at the Ramadan Fatbuster Workout and perhaps the most unfit person in the room, I dreaded the thought of a down and dirty class.

But, I was shortly to be pleasantly surprised. Not only did I have so much fun that the 23 minutes flew by, but I now feel like I'm part of a secret group of 'Fatbusters'. The class consists of a mixture of cardio movements, body weight exercises, animal movements, yoga movements and team exercises and challenges.

By using a mixture of high intensity cardio and resistance movements the sessions help burn fat and tone the body, and by finishing off with some yoga postures the participant is further strengthened and gains improved flexibility.

To get the team's hearts pumping, we warmed up with a jog whilst throwing punches into the air. It sounds like the easiest workout right? Wrong! Five minutes in and I needed to take a water break and from the intensity of spider crawls and crunches.

Practising what they preach, general manager Saba Saleem also took part in the class with team leader Nabeela Mohammed.

Saba said: "The workout is only 23 minutes as that is what the DreamBody Centre is about. However, we do not use any exercise machines during this workout, and this is the first time we have staged anything like it.

"People think Ramadan is a time to stop exercising, so we decided to come up with this workout to give our members an extra boost to come in and try it."

The team accepted me as the pizza-loving pathetic specimen I am and helped me push through the pain when I thought I was going to collapse.

Yes, there were moments when I was staring at the big timer on the wall, counting down the seconds with Zainab Kadhem, the instructor and circuit advisor, waiting for the beeping sound to mark the end of the particular routine, namely the push-ups and the planks.

But there were also moments where I wanted it to last longer than the required 30-60 seconds stints and continued to push myself, holding my squat position, sweating through the mountain climbers.

The team were really encouraging and Nabeela was always there pulling me back into the activity space shouting: "Come on May, just 30 seconds left!"

When the routine ended, the relaxing yoga stretches brought my heart rate back to normal. As I was lying on the floor with my eyes closed, focusing on my breathing, I finally understood the saying: 'Sweat is just fat crying!'

A men's workout was going on at the same time in the male section of the centre with Ahmed Iftikhar, shift leader and the mastermind behind the routine, coercing the men into a similar pool of sweat.

The Fatbuster workout is held every Saturday, Monday and Wednesday during Ramadan, from 8.45pm till 9.13pm and from 9.30pm till 9.53pm.

For more information, call 17582982 or visit www.DreamBodyCentre.com

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